Studies in the Theory of Descent (Volumes 1 and 2)

Studies in the Theory of Descent is by Dr. August Weismann, Professor in the University of Freiburg, with notes and additions by the author, and translated and edited, with notes, by Raphael Meldola, F.C.S. A prefatory notice is credited to Charles Darwin, LL.D., F.R.S., author of “The Origin of Species.” The text says that, in accordance with the idea first introduced into science by Rudolph Leuckart, heterogenesis has hitherto been understood to be only the alternation of dissimilar sexual generations.

The text says of the Hymenoptera that they are well based on their imaginal characters, but that it is quite different with the larvæ, and that it may be boldly asserted that the order would never have been founded if the larvæ only had been known. In the first person, the text speaks of an intention of investigating the origin of this enigmatical dimorphism and of a half-provoking reply: “But there is nothing to investigate”, since it is simply the specific character of this insect to appear in two forms that alternate in regular succession according to a fixed law of Nature.